OH: More Money Stuff (August)

[ibagli]

I wonder if Michael Coleman still has any designs on being governor. He ran in 2006 but had some marriage issues that caused him to drop out, and was Lee Fisher's running mate in 2002. I heard rumblings about 2018 when he decided not to run for mayor again, but I haven't heard a peep about him since.

No chance of an Ed FitzGerald comeback, I presume?

I don't think so. His underperformance in 2014 took a lot of the shine off of him. (I don't know that anybody really expected him to win, but I think a lot of people expected him to be more formidable than he was. The drivers license thing was just weird.)

[ibagli]

O'Neill continues to stir up speculation about running for Governor. It would be a real shame to lose the only Democrat on the State Supreme Court, if he did run. Interestingly, leaders of the Run Nina Run group are also supportive of O'Neill.

He's too old to run for re-election to the court in 2018, so he'd only be losing a year if he resigns early. I'm not sure how far he'll go, though. His victory in 2012 felt more like a ballot name fluke than anything about his actual campaign, which only spent about $4,000.

[ibagli]

My understanding is the semi-open system requires a cycle to reset.

No, you can switch at the next primary if you want. In theory they can require someone changing parties to fill out an affidavit swearing that they support the new party, but I think Husted's regulations make that very rare (whereas it was very common under Brunner).

[ibagli]

]Husted under fire for using tax dollars to put out campaign advertising -- Mandel's done the same thing in his Senate campaign.

I figured this would be about the absentee voting literature, where his name is visible from the space station.

[ibagli]

Husted must be the highest-profile running mate since the ticket system started. I think Lee Fisher and Mary Taylor are the only other ones who'd ever been elected statewide, and Fisher was twelve years out of office and Taylor was just the auditor.

I wonder just how bad his numbers were that he thought this demotion was the only way to stay around.

[ibagli]

Kasich Refuses To Endorse DeWine For Ohio Governor Over Medicaid Fears

...but he endorsed Mary Taylor, who was openly promising to repeal the Medicaid expansion. (I get that nobody really believed he wanted her to win, but still.)